Chapter Text
An anxious Matsuno Matsuyo sat in the clinic’s waiting room with six identical toddlers surrounding her, clinging to her clothes and hanging off of her arms like their lives depended on it. The couple other patients waiting with her didn’t bother to be subtle about the odd looks they were shooting her, but honestly, she was used to it by now. She didn’t expect anyone to find sextuplets to be a regular sight to behold, so by the two-month mark of being their mother, she had learned to brush off these glances from strangers without a second thought.
Besides, she had more important things to worry about when it came to her sons, such as their hyperactivity, their recklessness, and most of all…
“Hey, Mommy! Look what I can do!” As if on cue, one of the sextuplets held out his right hand, and the brother standing next to him began to levitate off of the waiting room chair he was standing on.
“Aah!” he shrieked as he latched onto Matsuyo’s arm, trying to keep from floating all the way to the ceiling.
“Ichimatsu, put Todomatsu down right now!” Matsuyo sternly reprimanded her laughing son, vaguely aware of the even stranger looks she was getting from the other patients now that they were witnessing this. “Don’t do this here!”
“Huh…” The mischievous grin fell off of Ichimatsu’s face, sensing he’d be sorry if he didn’t obey his mother right then and there. Pouting, he let go of his brother, who breathed a sigh of relief once his feet touched solid matter again.
Matsuyo couldn’t help but be more than a little grateful to Akatsuka-sensei that her son actually listened, given how none of them did so half of the time. Trying her best to pretend that she couldn’t see everyone else peering at her like she was a freak of nature, she continued to wait until it was her turn to be called.
Said call came just a few minutes later, when a nurse with a clipboard in hand opened the door. “Matsuno Matsuyo-san?”
Matsuyo visibly perked up at the sound of her name, and she quickly stood up with two of her sons hanging off of her body. Quickly dragging the rest of her children behind her, she entered through the door as she disregarded the all-too-familiar strange look the nurse was giving her and her kids. “Where to?” she simply asked, wishing to get this over with as soon as possible.
“Er, Room 3, please.” The nurse recovered enough to escort the mother to the designated exam room, although she couldn’t resist looking a couple more times at the six identical toddlers. “Makebi-sensei will be with you in just a short moment,” she added once they were all settled in, and she closed the door behind her.
“Mommy, I’m booooooored,” one of Matsuyo’s sons began to whine immediately after the nurse left.
“We won’t be here too long, Osomatsu,” Matsuyo attempted to soothe her eldest. “The doctor will be here in just a second, and once he’s done, we can leave.”
“But I’m boooooooooooooooored!”
Matsuyo sighed wearily. I’m so tired. “I’ll take all of you to get ice cream if you stay quiet for the rest of the visit.”
It was almost comedic how quickly all of them shut up and hopped onto the bed to sit side by side with their backs erect, clearly enticed by the promise of sweets later on in the day. It took all of Matsuyo’s might to hold back the triumphant chuckles that then threatened to escape her.
Not long after, a tall, lanky man in a white coat opened the door to the exam room and stepped inside. “Matsuno-san?”
With his voice penetrating through whatever thoughts she was having, Matsuyo stood up from the chair beside the bed and bowed. “Ah, yes, that’s me. You’re Makebi-sensei?”
“Makebi Toshiyuki,” the doctor confirmed with a bow of his own before he sat down in the swivel chair opposite her. Opening up the file he held in his arms, he proceeded to ask, “So, I’ve been told that you’re here for… one of your children?” His eyes scanned across the row of toddlers on the bed as if he was only taking notice of them now. Even though his expression remained neutral, it was clear he was taken aback by the sight nonetheless.
Nodding, Matsuyo beckoned one of her sons to come over. “Ichimatsu, come here.”
Ichimatsu complied and hopped off the bed, walking over to where his mother sat.
Picking him up and placing him in her lap, Matsuyo proceeded to explain to Makebi, “I heard that you’re the only doctor in the area who knows how to deal with this sort of thing. Lately, my son Ichimatsu has been developing these…” She paused, before continuing in a more tentative tone of voice, “I don’t know what else to call them other than superpowers. He can lift things without touching them, for one? That’s the strangest out of everything that’s been going on…”
Makebi hummed under his breath, writing in his file with his pen. “And? Anything else that’s stood out to you?”
“A few days ago, he took his father by the finger and lifted him up in the air.” Matsuyo shuddered at the memory. “That was when I decided to schedule an appointment here. I don’t know what’s going on with him? I would’ve taken him to an exorcist if I hadn’t heard about you, because I really was thinking at one point that some demon might’ve possessed him…”
“Hm.” Makebi gazed thoughtfully at the child in his mother’s arms, who only looked back at him with wide, clueless eyes. Holding his pen out to him, the doctor instructed, “Kid, can you try making this float?”
Ichimatsu blinked. “Huh? Sure.” He held his hand out, with Makebi’s own letting go of the pen. Sure enough, it began to levitate in the air.
“Okay, now let’s see how high you can throw it,” Makebi continued, eyes still focused on Ichimatsu. “I want to see what you can do.”
“Um, Sensei, what is this about?” Matsuyo piped up from her seat, confused.
“I’m just gauging your son’s abilities,” was the half-hearted explanation she received. “Now, Ichimatsu, throw it. Don’t feel pressured to throw it super high, this is all just—”
His words were abruptly cut off when Ichimatsu lifted his hand up casually, prompting the pen to shoot up high and lodge itself in the ceiling. Stunned silence ensued.
Once she regained herself, Matsuyo glared down at her son. “Ichimatsu!” she admonished.
“Heh, sorry,” Ichimatsu sheepishly grinned, trying his utter best to hide the amused glint in his eye.
Staring up at the pen now stuck in his ceiling, Makebi took a deep breath and sighed wearily. “It’s fine, it’s fine. I have more.” His gaze falling down towards Ichimatsu again, he remarked, “You’re pretty powerful.”
Ichimatsu beamed at what he considered to be high praise.
“Matsuno-san,” Makebi turned to Matsuyo, “your son is an esper, meaning that he contains abilities within him that other humans don’t have. They typically start showing up at one to two years of age, and they’re going to keep developing as long as we don’t do anything about it. Judging from what you told me and what just happened with my pen…” With a hint of annoyance, his eyes momentarily shot back up towards the ceiling, but they rested back on the mother in a quick second. “He’s begun showing signs of super strength and, of course, telekinesis. This is only the beginning, so it can only be expected that they’ll get stronger as he grows.”
“W-wait…” Matsuyo shook her head, struggling to gather her thoughts about all of this new information. “An… esper?”
“Yes, an esper. Someone with a sixth sense.”
Waving her hand, Matsuyo managed out, “N-no, I know what the word means, but… th-those exist? And my son happens to be one?” Glancing back down at Ichimatsu, whose eagerness was beginning to transform into boredom, she wondered aloud, “H-how…?”
“Genetics is the most common explanation,” Makebi offered. “I would suggest researching your family history and seeing if you or your husband possess the carrier gene for it. Though if that’s the cause for your son…” He peered over at the bed, where Matsuyo’s other five sons sat, looking ten times more bored and unimpressed than Ichimatsu was. “Are your sextuplets fraternal or identical?”
“A-all identical.”
Makebi put his fingers to his chin, clearly trying to make sense of the odd situation. “Because identical children are born from the same egg, they should all have esper abilities… To clarify, it’s only this one here who’s started showing signs?”
At a complete loss for words, Matsuyo settled for simply nodding.
“That shouldn’t be…” Makebi trailed off, but he quickly perked up once the realization dawned on him. “Unless… he carries the abilities for all six of them combined.”
“Wh—”
“There have been a couple of case studies done where an esper had absorbed the esper abilities of their twin while in the womb, leading to them having double the strength and intensity,” Makebi explained before the completely baffled Matsuyo could speak up. “If that’s what happened here, except with sextuplets… Your son carries six times the power of an average esper.”
“S-Sensei, you’re hitting me with a lot all at once here…” Matsuyo tightened her hold on Ichimatsu. “A-aren’t we getting a little ahead of ourselves? We should probably consider the possibility that the other five just haven’t started developing their abilities yet…”
“That’s an alternative explanation, but I think it’s more likely that your son really has absorbed his powers from his brothers.” Looking back up at the ceiling yet again, Makebi added, “It would explain why there was so much intensity back there, even though typically, he would have to be a bit older before his abilities could reach that level of power.”
“Th-then what does this mean?” Matsuyo finally asked. “Is any of this… dangerous to him?”
Makebi shrugged. “Not necessarily, but there’s no denying that there’s a much larger risk factor involved now. It’s not a problem now that he’s not fully developed, but if he isn’t able to exercise complete control when he’s older, his abilities can potentially become very destructive.”
“Destru…” Matsuyo grimaced as she realized that her son (just like the other five) already was quite destructive by himself, even without his esper powers to enable him. Thinking of this, she found herself asking before she could even register the words, “Is there any way to depower him?”
Makebi raised an eyebrow at her request. “Excuse me? That’s not something parents of espers normally consider.”
“I mean…” Matsuyo looked down at Ichimatsu again. “You just said he has six times the power, didn’t you? The situation already isn’t normal.” Well, if anything about espers could even be considered normal. “Is that… impossible?”
“No, no, it’s perfectly possible.” Makebi shook his head. “I was just taken aback. Depowering a child is usually saved as a last resort, but given his circumstances, it sounds like the safest option. I can do it for you now, if you wish.”
“C-can you?” Matsuyo doesn’t dare breathe a sigh of relief just yet. “That’d be great, thank you.”
Makebi simply nodded in acknowledgment, then he stood up from his chair. “Can all of you follow me then, please? This won’t take long at all.”
Hearing her five other sons groan, Matsuyo shot them all a knowing look, effectively shutting them up. Beckoning them to get off of the bed, she then stood up as well with Ichimatsu still in her arms. As she followed the doctor out of the examination room and further down the hall, with the rest of her kids tailing them, she couldn’t help but wonder, “How exactly do you go about this depowering process?”
Glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, Makebi replied, “It’s easy. We administer a drug that will help keep his powers at bay.”
“And how do you administer it?”
“The same way as your regular vaccine.” Makebi stopped in front of one particular door, turning the knob and motioning for Matsuyo and the boys to step inside with him. “Through injection.”
Snuggled into his mother’s arms, Ichimatsu tilted his head at him. “Injections? What are injections?”
“No worries, kid. You’ll find out soon.”
Ichimatsu sat on the roof of the Matsuno house, with a kitten in his lap as he gazed up at the bright, blue sky. It was a rare instance of him being the only one at home, with all of his brothers having gone off to do their own thing. What exactly, he wasn’t sure, though he did overhear Osomatsu ask a couple of the others if they wanted to go to the pachinko parlor with him earlier.
This was fine. Ichimatsu needed the solitude on this particular day, anyway; ever since he had woken up a few hours ago, his head had been throbbing with what he could only pass off as a hangover. They all had gone out to the pub the previous night, and he remembered getting a little drunk, but…
One of his hands stopped petting the kitten’s soft fur, instead raising up to rub his forehead. It had been a long while since he had gotten a hangover, as he had learned pretty quickly since his first time drinking what his limits were. That was likely why this headache was especially irritating, What with his body not used to it. Still though, it was odd enough that this even happened in the first place… Was his alcohol tolerance going down?
God, he hoped not. He should at least be able to occasionally drink his own shittiness away.
The kitten in his lap mewled, interrupting his thoughts, and he looked down at it. “Do you wanna go inside?” he asked it, as he resumed his pets.
He took the purring as a yes. That was completely fine with him. For some reason, the clear weather was pissing him off, like it was taunting his massive headache and saying it was a good day for everyone except for him. He might as well just go in and lie down on the sofa or something, because the fresh air wasn’t doing wonders for him in the slightest.
Holding the kitten in his arms, he made a move to stand up, only for a sudden wave of dizziness to overtake him and prompt him to stumble on the edge of the roof. One of his legs slipped out from underneath him, and his hand automatically reached out to grab something—
But it found nothing but air, just like his feet.
He realized he was falling, face up, and his first move was to tighten his grip on the kitten as if to shield it from the approaching ground.
And as his body made contact with the cement, a sickening crack could be heard across the entire neighborhood, under the bright sun and the clear, blue sky.